• Home
• /
• Letters

Slow down a little, have fun and bond with your children

Laugh, play, forgive to help your children become wiser (KT, Feb 12) gave useful suggestions for better parenting. Laughing, playing, and forgiving has become increasingly difficult with the busy lifestyles and higher parental expectations.
Spending quality time, having fun with combined play time has become rare. The pressure on children to excel in everything with back-to-back coaching classes for academic and extracurricular activities leaves no time for lighter moments that help families to bond.
It is time for parents to develop the subtle art of balancing comfortable closeness and comfortable distance from children as and when required. Over protection keeps them under prepared to face situations on their own and handle crisis. Emotional stability is often compromised and children are left in quandary when difficult situations occur.
Instilling values and life skills while giving them comfortable space to explore the changing world is the best way to nurture the growing generation. Putting across things in a humorous way wins the confidence and trust, and makes the rough road of parenting smooth at times.
-Latha Narasimhan, Sharjah